Page 101 of Highlanders for the Holidays
There was only one thing she missed about him. But if she thought he was going to slip away with her for a night under the blankets, she was sadly mistaken. He made that mistake once after she left him, thinking she meant to return.
Ach, he was annoyed with himself for blaming her. He should have known better.
* * *
Lily feltlike a squat toad next to the tall, stunning woman with golden hair, large hazel eyes, and a bright smile aimed at Roderick.
The woman held out her hands to him, which he pointedly ignored. Undeterred, she ran fingers down his arm as she spoke to him in Gaelic in a light, musical voice.
She looked at Roderick as if she’d like him on a platter with a honey glaze she could lick off. The two obviously knew each other intimately. Judging from Roderick’s reaction, Lily had a good idea who this tall beauty was.
When the woman moved to place herself between Lily and Roderick, Lily started to step back, but Roderick held her arm in an iron grip.
“Ye must excuse us, Maigrid,” he said in English. “I don’t want my guest to miss the lighting of the bonfire.”
He gave the woman a curt nod, then cut through the crowd, taking Lily with him.
Apparently when Roderick was done with a woman, he was done. Still, it was obvious this Maigrid had wounded him deeply. Lily wanted to go back and slap her for hurting him. At the same time, she felt pathetic for wishing he felt half that strongly for her.
“That was her, wasn’t it?” Lily whispered after they were outside and some distance from the Great Hall. “The one who left ye while your enemy had ye chained in a dungeon?”
Roderick trained his eyes straight ahead and kept walking, which was answer enough.
“She is beautiful.”
“Hmmph.”
“I have a vial of poison in my bag…”
Roderick snorted and squeezed her shoulders. Lily was only half joking, but she was glad she had lifted his sour mood.
“Ye do know how to make me laugh,” he said. “But there’s no need to poison Maigrid. She doesn’t matter anymore.”
Ha.
“I doubt poison would work on her anyway,” Lily said, which made him laugh again. “Ye can’t poison a snake.”
The woman probably could not wear holly either.
* * *
They followedthe crowd across the causeway to a wide, open area on the shore of the loch where there was an enormous pile of wood four times her height. The sky was pitch black and a cold wind blew across the island, making Lily shiver as they waited in the darkness with the crowd. After a time, she felt a ripple of anticipation rising from the people around her.
“Look.” Roderick put his arm around her and pointed. “Here they come.”
A procession of flaming torches appeared across the loch. Against the black night, nothing was visible except the torches and their refection in the water. They looked like balls of fire moving along the shoreline. Lily had never seen anything more beautiful.
When the torch carriers reached the gathering, they encircled the enormous pile of wood. Then they chanted in deep male voices that pulsed through her, and she sensed it was a chant from ancient times, marking the solstice.
She jumped as one of the men tossed his torch onto the woodpile, and it exploded in flame.
“There’s grease on the wood,” Roderick said with a laugh as he squeezed her shoulders again.
After the lighting of the bonfire, jugs of whisky came out and the crowd grew jovial. Lily had heard that the Christmas celebrations at court were a sight to behold—and enormously expensive—but she could not imagine those had the drama and exuberance of these Highlanders’ Yuletide celebrations.
The enormous bonfire crackled and spit, shooting flames high into the sky and making the front of her clothing hot to the touch. Everywhere she looked, laughter shone on the faces in the firelight. Roderick took a pull from a jug his neighbor handed him, then passed it on to her.
“You’re not accustomed to it,” he said. “Best take just a wee nip.”
